"We were just finishing up the singing," said Kruger, 54, of Katy. A Bible school kindergarten teacher, Kruger said the group of youngsters usually broke into smaller groups as they went to their classrooms after the singing.

"I was extremely tired," Kruger remembers. "I couldn't stand up for the singing. I sat in a chair and I remember thinking I'd be just fine if I could take a nap."

That's the last memory Kruger has of that morning, but witnesses have told her she was walking through the church's foyer when she suddenly fell forward onto her face. Someone - no one remembers who - had seen Rutledge walk into the church.

"I wasn't in the church more than 10 seconds before I heard them calling my name," remembers Rutledge.

Arriving at the scene, Rutledge took quick stock of Kruger's vital signs.

"She was face down, no breathing, no pulse. I had someone call 911 while I was doing CPR; at some point a nurse arrived to help me," Rutledge said. "I shocked her (with the automatic external defibrillator) a couple of times and never really did get a strong pulse before they took her away in the ambulance."

"They said I was dead, literally, for six minutes," said Kruger. "This happened on a Monday; by Saturday I was out of the hospital and back home, resuming my life," she said. "I didn't have a heart attack. The doctors told me I had cardiomyopathy, a weakening of the heart, and my heart just stopped."

Her life, she says, is basically the same, except for one crucial part: She can no longer work as a special-needs bus driver for Katy Independent School District because of her heart.

Rutledge, who lives in Saddlebrook with his wife, Kim, and their son and daughter, said "I've probably done CPR a hundred times, but I've never done it on someone I knew. That was a difference to me because I had a personal connection with her and her family. I just couldn't see me telling Glenda's daughter something bad had happened to her mother."

Rutledge said two things played a large part in Kruger's survival.

"No. 1, God wasn't calling her home yet," he said, "and No. 2, my experience. I've been a firefighter for 15 years and a captain for seven years. My experience in the proper way to do CPR certainly benefited her. It's good that I had that experience.

"She was very blessed that it happened where it happened and that someone knowledgeable in CPR was there."

He said it feels good to save someone's life. "There's nothing like it."

Rutledge said, "It was nice to be recognized and get the award, but it wasn't necessary. Glenda and her mother both wrote letters thanking me. Their letters were enough. That was plenty."

Rutledge said he encourages everyone to take a CPR course.

"There is a wrong way to do CPR and if you don't know the right way, you're doing nothing. I don't care if you're 14 or 84, you can do effective CPR."

Kruger, who has three sons and a daughter with her husband, Clay, said she is more grateful for Rutledge's actions than she can say.

"If it hadn't been for Dan Rutledge I could possibly have suffered serious brain injury, or worse," Kruger said. "He is my guardian angel, he is my hero."